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Conflict & Security17 outlets ran this3 min read

US commander: Iran-backed groups sending money back to IRGC

Admiral Brad Cooper says economic crisis forces reversal of funding flow from militias to Tehran.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
US commander: Iran-backed groups sending money back to IRGC

What this story says

  • Iran-backed militias are sending money to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) because of Iran's economic crisis, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, stated.
  • The U.S. naval blockade has cost Iran an estimated $25 billion in lost oil revenue, Cooper said.
  • Approximately $350 million in Iranian cryptocurrency assets have been frozen, according to Cooper.
  • CENTCOM has largely paused strikes on Iranian positions threatening the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks.

Who covered it

Left 13%(1)Centre 24%(2)Right 63%(5)

Percentages are shares of the 8 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 9 of the 17 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

80/100

Craft

85/100

Hype

30/100

17 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 1 of the 8 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Iran-backed militias are redirecting funds to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) due to Iran's economic crisis, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, stated. Cooper said this reversal of the typical funding flow, where Tehran supports regional groups, is a consequence of mounting economic pressure on Iran. He noted that the financial strain is so severe that some militias may be withholding payments from their own fighters to send money back to the IRGC, which is also struggling to pay its troops.

The U.S. naval blockade has cost Iran an estimated $25 billion in lost oil revenue, Cooper reported. Additionally, U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Treasury Department have frozen $350 million in Iranian cryptocurrency assets. Cooper also stated that CENTCOM has mostly paused strikes on Iranian military positions threatening the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks.

Disagreement on Strait of Hormuz traffic

The Jerusalem Post reported that 400 ships and 100 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the previous week. This detail was not mentioned in the right-rated digests.

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated reports mentioned the detail that 400 ships and 100 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the previous week, a fact reported by the Jerusalem Post.

Tags:#Iran#MiddleEast#USMilitary#Sanctions#IRGC#StraitOfHormuz

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 6 times, most recently on 18 Oct 2026, 05:15, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

1 rated outlet

  • The left-rated report from Axios led on the statement that Iran-backed militias are sending money back to the IRGC to relieve economic pressure. It also mentioned that the U.S. military has been preparing for a possible resumption of major combat operations against Iran while the Trump administration continues to put immense pressure on the regime with its naval blockade.

Centre

2 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated reports from the Jerusalem Post and Worthy Christian News highlighted Admiral Brad Cooper's statement that Iran-backed militias are redirecting money to the IRGC due to Iran's economic crisis. Both reports mentioned the estimated $25 billion in lost oil revenue from the U.S. naval blockade and the $350 million in frozen cryptocurrency assets. The Jerusalem Post also noted that CENTCOM has mostly paused strikes on Iranian military positions threatening the Strait of Hormuz and reported on the volume of traffic through the waterway.

Right

5 rated outlets

  • The right-rated reports from news-pravda.com, Times of India, Yonhap News Agency, The Epoch Times, and Reformatorisch Dagblad led on the assertion that Iran-backed groups are sending money back to the IRGC amid economic pressure, citing U.S. officials. Several of these reports, including Times of India and Yonhap News Agency, specifically mentioned the $25 billion in lost oil revenue and the $350 million in frozen cryptocurrency assets. The Epoch Times included a photograph of ships near the Strait of Hormuz.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover US commander: Iran-backed groups sending money back to IRGC?
Of the 8 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 13% are rated left, 24% are rated centre, 63% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 17. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is US commander: Iran-backed groups sending money back to IRGC left or right?
Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 8 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
Is the coverage of US commander: Iran-backed groups sending money back to IRGC biased?
US commander: Iran-backed groups sending money back to IRGC is one event reported by 17 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting US commander: Iran-backed groups sending money back to IRGC?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered US commander: Iran-backed groups sending money back to IRGC?
17 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
Why are Iran-backed militias sending money back to the IRGC?
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, stated that Iran's economic crisis has forced Iran-backed militias to redirect funds to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This represents a reversal of the usual funding flow, where Tehran supports regional groups.
How much has the U.S. naval blockade cost Iran?
According to Admiral Brad Cooper, the U.S. naval blockade has cost Iran an estimated $25 billion in lost oil revenue. He also reported that $350 million in Iranian cryptocurrency assets have been frozen.
What is the status of U.S. strikes on Iranian positions near the Strait of Hormuz?
CENTCOM has largely paused strikes on Iranian military positions that threaten the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks, Admiral Brad Cooper stated. This comes amid reports of increased Iranian attacks on shipping in the waterway.

Read it at the source

17 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

1

Centre

2

Right

5

Not rated

9
Show 1 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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